


Old Watch

by happy29



Category: Hawaii Five-0 (2010)
Genre: M/M
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-04-08
Updated: 2018-04-08
Packaged: 2019-04-20 08:20:31
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,270
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/14256822
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/happy29/pseuds/happy29
Summary: Danny and Grace go through boxes in the Williams attic.





	Old Watch

**Author's Note:**

> This was my writing prompt for the day. An old watch is discovered in an attic.

“Danno,” Grace called down to her father at the bottom of the ladder. “You didn’t tell me how gross it was up here.”

Danny rolled his eyes, both hands planted firmly on either side of the ladder that led up into his parent’s attic. “You’re the one who wanted to know what was in Grandma’s attic.” He shuddered at the thought of the cobwebs stretched across the beams and the inches of dirt and dust that had surely accumulated over the years. He and Matty used to look through the boxes their mom had stored up there when they were younger but he hadn’t been up there in a very long time. Boxes belonging to their parents that never got unpacked when they got married, moved and shifted throughout the house until they found their permanent resting place in the attic. Countless boxes of his grandparents’ belongings that his parents inherited but didn’t know what to do with what found their  way to the attic as well. He figured if it was as dank and nasty as Grace was describing neither Ma nor Pop had been up there in a while either. “Just come back down, Monkey.”

“Are you kidding?” She shrieked with excitement. “There’s tons of boxes up here with your name on them.” Grace came back to the opening in the floor and glanced down at her father still holding onto the ladder. “Did grandma keep all your stuff?” Before Danny could answer she disappeared again and Danny heard the rustling of boxes being pushed across the wooden floor.

“Grace,” Danny hesitated as he waited for a reply. “What are you doing now?”

“I’m looking through your stuff. Grandma said I could.”

“Grandma said she could,” Danny muttered under his breath. This was all Steve’s fault he decided as he placed one foot on the bottom rung of the ladder and tested it to see if it still held his weight. He was going to kill the Neanderthal if this thing broke on him halfway up. Last thing he needed was to break his other arm, or a foot, or his neck. He tucked the flashlight under his arm and said a silent prayer the ladder didn’t collapse.

He was halfway up the thing when he heard a delighted squeal come from his daughter. “This stuff is great! There’s a bunch of cars, all kinds of cool marbles, bouncy balls, action figures, army guys, Tonka trucks that take batteries, and something that looks like an antique version of a Gameboy. What is this? An electronic baseball game?” She burst into a fit of giggles. “Wait, until Dad sees all this stuff.”

“Uh, no,” Danny stopped and shook a finger in the air. “Dad is not to see any of this stuff.” Danny cringed as he wondered what his daughter had discovered in his old boxes. His mother was the keeper of everything. Now he regretted not cleaning out his room when he moved out.

“I found your baseball uniforms.”

Danny poked his head through the opening in the floor just as Grace was holding his high school baseball jersey against herself. 

“We should take this home to Charlie.”

“Charlie doesn’t want my old jersey.” Danny pulled himself fully into the attic and had to duck so he didn’t hit his head on a beam. He didn’t have that problem as a child when he and Matt would sneak into the attic and pilfer through the boxes. He clicked on the flashlight and shone it in Grace’s direction. “Let me see what you have there.”

Grace held up the jersey and smiled wide, her own flashlight tucked securely under her arm.

“That one is from my senior year.” Danny made his way over to his daughter, ducking his head so he didn’t clear out the cobwebs with his hair. He shuddered at the thought of the creepy crawlies that could be up here. “If Grandma kept them all, there should be three more somewhere.”

“We should get Charlie a baseball bat and glove for his birthday.” Grace suggested as she placed the jersey in her pile for show and tell later.

“Yeah? I was thinking his own pancake turner, he eats so many of them. Pancakes, not the spatula thing. You think he would like that? A bat and glove?”

“Why not?” Grace asked as she found the items in the bottom of the current box boring and started in on another. Danny found a bare piece of floor and sat down cross legged so he could watch Grace, his right knee not liking the new position. “You like baseball. You can teach him to play.” Grace hit pay-dirt with her latest find. She pulled out the old mitt and tossed it to her father. “How old is that thing?”

Danny turned the worn the mitt over in his hands and studied it. His mother really did keep everything. “That would be from when I played little league. Uncle Matt used to get so mad because I could hit the ball further than him.”

“Was he any good? Uncle Matt?” Grace questioned as she took the mitt from her father and tried it on her own hand. She wiggled her fingers and decided it was too small for her and probably too big for Charlie.

Danny thought back in time at his little league days with his younger brother, both good enough to be on the local traveling team. “He wasn’t as good as me, but he was fast so the coaches liked him. Matty didn’t like baseball as much as I did. Ma made him stick it out through the season though. Wouldn’t let him quit.”

“Just like you wouldn’t let me quit the cheer squad when I first started?”

“Exactly. I was right wasn’t I? You love it now and you’re really good. One of the best on the team now. Which reminds me, Grandpa wants you to show him some cheers later.”

Grace nodded with enthusiasm. She loved performing for whoever would watch her. “Look, Danno, here’s another mitt and jersey.” Grace held up the items for her father to see. 

“That would be from probably middle school. I was on a traveling team again. Grandma had to drive me all over the place for games.”

“Did Grandpa ever get to watch you play?”

“Sometimes. Not very often though. Grandpa worked a lot at the fire station. He was at the important games though.”

Grace leaned forward over the current box she was digging through and wrapped her arms around Danny’s neck. She placed a quick kiss to his cheek and went back to her box.

“What was that for?”

“Just because. I know you get upset when you have to work during my stuff. I understand. You have an important job, just like Grandpa.”

“Thanks, Monkey.”

Grace closed the lid on the box in front of her and shoved it to the side. She pulled another one in front of her and drew the flaps open. She peered inside intrigued. “Why did Grandma keep all this stuff?”

“Well,” Danny shifted to his knees so he could glance in the box as well. “I guess she didn’t want to let go of any memories.” He glanced around the attic. “Somewhere there is a box of your baby stuff.”

“Really?” Grace’s eyes grew wide.

“Yeah. When I was going through things after your mom and you left for Hawaii, I found a box of your baby things your mom and I had kept. I asked Grandma to keep it for me. After dinner I’ll ask her where it is so we can look through it with dad.”

“What’s this?” Grace held up a small wooden box with a tiny brushed nickel clasp on the front and two matching hinges on the back.

Danny shrugged unsure. He had never seen the small box before. He rotated the cardboard box in front of Grace looking for a name or a label with the contents. “I don’t know. Open it up.”

Grace carefully pushed the lock out of its place and opened the top. She set the box in her lap and studied the contents. “It’s a bunch of old watches.” She pulled them out one by one. The first was silver and dainty, a woman’s dress watch with an opal face. Grace looked it over and handed it off to Danny.

“This was my Grandma’s watch.”

“How do you know?” Grace questioned as she accepted the watch back and gave it another once over.

“I remember when I would spend the night with my grandparents, I would sit on grandma’s lap while grandpa watched the evening news. It took a lot to hold my attention and grandma always told me, ‘Just five more minutes,’ when I would ask her how much longer the news would last before grandpa would play catch with me. Then she would point to the face of her watch and show me. I always remembered the shimmery background and the iridescent colors would distract me as they changed whenever she would move her wrist.”

“Opal. Isn’t that Grandma’s birthstone?”

Danny thought for a moment and nodded. “Yes.” 

“We should get her a nice watch like this for her birthday this year, with an opal face so When Charlie asks those same questions, she can distract him.”

Danny sat back on his heels and stared at his daughter. “When did you get so grown up?”

Grace rolled her eyes. She pulled out another watch, this one dangling from a long chain.

“That belonged to my great-grandpa Williams. He always had it in his pocket. He used to pretend to hypnotize us kids with it. Aunt Stella still believes that he hypnotized her to bark like a dog whenever someone would whistle.”

“Aunt Stella is crazy.”

‘Yes she is. But we love her anyway.”

“What about this one?” Grace held up a worn brown leather band. “Looks like it’s seen better days.” The face of the watch was busted, tiny shards of jagged glass still stuck in the round frame. She passed it off to her father as he grew silent.

“This was grandpa’s.”

“Grandpa Eddie?” Grace asked noticing the change in her father’s demeanor.

Danny rubbed the band between his thumb and index finger as memories of fires and hospitals swirled in his head. He nodded his head without speaking. That was the night he almost lost his dad to the job. The broken watch a reminder of how dangerous his job was.

“You okay, Danno?”

“Yeah.” Danny shook his head unable to form any more words. When the hospital gave him his father’s belongings, the broken watch was in the bottom of the bag. He remembered the call like it was yesterday. His mother on the other end of the line in a panic telling him about the house fire and how it had collapsed with several firefighters inside. Eddie had gotten lucky. Coming out of the ordeal with a broken wrist and concussion, few cracked ribs. His fellow firefighters weren’t so lucky. That was the day Danny chose to become a cop instead of following in his father’s footsteps. “Grandpa had a guardian angel that day.”

“Why didn’t he quit? Wasn’t he scared?” Grace questioned as she studied the watch again.

“He loved helping people. That’s what drove him to get up and go to work everyday. Same with me. Going after bad guys can be scary. But the feeling of being able to help someone far outweighs the idea of being scared.”

“And you have dad as back-up.”

“Well, I’m more like his back-up since he never waits for anyone.”

Grace pulled another watch out of the box and stared at it for a moment before chuckling. “Please tell me this isn’t yours.” She held it out for her father to see.

“Oh my God, I can’t believe grandma still has this thing. I thought it was lost forever.” Danny held the blue band between his fingers and studied the face. “You know this is how I learned to tell time. Grandpa bought this for me on my 6th birthday. I loved Sesame Street and Ernie was my favorite.”

“What’s Sesame Street?”

Danny stared at his daughter dumbfounded. “Big Bird, Cookie Monster, Snuffleupagus, Count Dracula, Bert and Ernie…”

“Never heard of them.”

“Right you watched Dora the Explorer and that purple Dinosaur.”

“That’s Barney.”

“Danny, Grace, dinner is ready.” Steve called up from the bottom of the ladder.

“Dad!” Grace hopped to her feet with youthful ease and jumped over Danny’s now outstretched legs. “Wait ‘til you see what I found of Danno’s stuff.”

“Really? Please tell me there will be show and tell later?” Steve held the ladder steady as Grace descended carefully. 

“What did I tell you about that Gracie?” Danny warned as he made his way to the opening in the floor.

“Don’t listen to him.” Grace patted Steve on the arm and made her way down the hall towards the dining room.

“Wash your hands young lady,” Danny called after her as he made his way down the ladder.

Steve greeted him with a kiss when he reached the bottom. Danny held up his hand to reveal the Ernie watch.

Steve took the watch and started to laugh as Danny clicked off his flashlight.

“Why are you laughing? I was six when I got that thing. Ernie was my favorite.”

Steve slung his arm around Danny’s shoulders as he led him down the hall of the Williams home. “When we get home, I’ll show you my matching Bert watch.”

 


End file.
